Skin-Shifter
by SheMarauder
Summary: This is just something I thought up about a girl getting sucked into a fantasy world where an entire species of humans have been murdered, and she's one of the last hopes to bring this species back. Of course this won't be as easy as it sounds. (I'm just making all of my stories T because eventually I will swear.)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alright this was just a story idea that I had thought up after playing an app I had gotten. There is nothing in common with my story and that app so there's no copyright going on. (Hopefully).**

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A loud beeping noise echoed throughout the small apartment. It continued for a few seconds before a hand snaked out from its hiding place beneath the covers and slapped the top of the alarm.

The beeping immediately ceased making that infernal noise, and I peeked out to make sure I didn't accidentally break my alarm clock. It didn't look broken, and the red letters still continued to tell the time.

Sighing irritably I pushed of my covers and tried rubbing the sleep from my eyes. When that didn't work I swung my legs over my bedside and forced myself to stand up. If I stayed in bed any longer I would be late for work.

After taking a quick shower I decided against blow drying my light brown, almost blonde hair, and instead pulled it back into a messy bun.

Throwing on my work uniform I grabbed the keys to my 1970 rabbit. It was the only thing I could afford on my meager paycheck.

It was a ten minute drive to get to the diner I waitressed at, and as soon as I got inside my boss called me back into his office. I shared a worried look with my friend, Janice. Nothing good ever happens when the boss decides to talk to you.

"Was there something you needed sir?"

He gave me a weary look from behind his wire-framed glasses. I felt bad for him in that moment because he was a genuinely nice guy, but it was when he needed to talk to one or all of us that something bad is going on.

"I'm afraid that over the past month the diner has had a large decrease in customers, and we've reached our lowest point of sales all year."

A pang of worry shot through me, "I'm sorry to hear that sir, but what does this have to do with me?"

"Aleah," his use of my first name only increased my worry, "I'm afraid that, because of our lack of funds, I have to let you go."

It felt like I just took a blow to the heart, and my body drowned in anxiety, "You–you're firing me?"

Bill (my boss) let out a weary sigh, "I'm truly sorry Aleah, but there's nothing else I can do."

My eyes were distant as I stood up from the cushioned chair. "I understand," my voice was thick with emotion, "I'll just head on out." Bill didn't say anything as he watched me leave his office with pity filled eyes.

Once his office door closed behind me I was accosted by Janice, "What happened in there Aleah?" She took a closer look at my face, "Are you alright? You look pale."

I mechanically shook my head, "Bill fired me."

"What?!" Janice had a shocked look on her face before it morphed into one of anger, "How dare he! You're one of his best workers!" She glared at his office door, "Don't worry Aleah, I'll get him to change his mind."

Her usual protectiveness of me made a small smile appear on my face. We've known each other since we were kids, and because I was an only child she took it upon herself to become my 'big sister'. "It wasn't because I was bad, it's because the diner is losing money. Don't worry Janice I can find another job."

"Well if you can't work here then neither can I!"

I sighed, "Janice," sometimes her protectiveness bordered on stubborn stupidity, "You can't quit this job just because I'm not working here anymore. I'll find another one."

"But we're supposed to work together," her voice turned whiney.

"At least now I can go get my hair done." My hair had always been this light brown color, and I've been wanting to change it for years.

"Come on Aleah your hair is already so cute. Why do you want to change it?"

I never saw what was so great about my hair. It was pin-straight, and ended a little passed my shoulders. "You can't talk me out of this Janice, not this time." Taking out my car keys I walked to the front door of the diner, "I'll see you later tonight, yeah?"

I heard a resigned sigh from behind me, "See you tonight."

Climbing into my car I turned the key a few times until the engine finally roared to life. Sighing, I briefly thought of getting a new one when I remembered I just lost my job.

A few tears escaped my eyes, and I gave a loud sniffle before wiping them off of my cheeks and pulling out of the parking lot.

The salon wasn't that far away. I lived in a rather small town, only taking about a half an hour to drive from one end to another.

Sitting there in the salon was heaven. I talked to my hair dresser as if she were my best friend, and she listened to all of my problems even though she probably couldn't care less.

A few hours later my hair dresser, Denise, was finally done dying my hair and I was bouncing my leg with nervous excitement.

She turned my chair, and I opened my eyes to see my hair had been turned a dark navy blue.

My shoulders slumped, and I felt like crying all over again. I had specifically asked for my hair to be dyed black, but instead it's been turned blue. BLUE.

"What the hell lady!" I shot out of the chair and spun to face her, "I asked for black, _black_ , and you turned it _blue_!"

Denise was gaping at me while everyone else in the salon watched on with interest. Nothing ever happens in this town so this was a good show of entertainment they could pass on to their friends. Soon enough the entire town will know.

"I–I am sorry I thought…" She grabbed the bottle that she dyed my hair with and read the label. Sure enough the bottle said 'Navy blue' instead of 'black'. "Ma'am I am so sorry I didn't realize–"

"Yeah whatever," I cut her off and made my way towards the door. "You can forget about getting paid because this is outrageous."

Slamming the glass door behind me I feared it would shatter before reprimanding myself. If anything they would deserve it. Honestly how do you mix something like that up?

Shutting my car door shut I blindly drove down the road mentally going over how this day has gone from bad to worse, and now every time I look in the mirror I'll remember.

No longer trusting the salon I'll have to go to the nearest Walgreens and get some hair dye closest to what my hair color had originally been. One bad experience was enough to put me off of dying my hair ever again.

Tears once again started blurring my vision, and instead of brushing them away I allowed them to fall. Who would have known my day would go from being completely normal to getting fired from my job, and then getting my hair turned blue. The only upside to that was that it's my favorite color.

A hiccup escaped me, and it made my tears get caught in my throat. I tried clearing it as I looked in my side mirror.

The lights of the town were a couple miles away, and the sun was almost fully set. If I wanted to get back and meet up with Janice in time then I would have to start driving back now.

Looking in my rear view mirror I saw a flash of light appear in the corner of my eye. I immediately diverted my gaze toward where the light came from, and sure enough there was a small dot of light coming from somewhere in the line of trees lining the road.

Unable to ignore it with my curiosity piqued I opened my car door, never once taking my eyes off of the dot of light.

Softly shutting the door behind me I looked around to make sure I was fully alone before making my way closer to the light. It got bigger and bigger until I finally located it to be covering the hole of a tree trunk.

Getting closer to the tree I found I was unable to tear my gaze from the white film of light. Dazedly I stepped onto the roots of the tree that were sticking out from the ground.

I set my hands onto the trunk to keep myself steady, and as soon as I was sure I wouldn't fall backwards I moved my right hand towards the light–intending to touch it.

As soon as the tips of my fingers touched the white light I felt them get pulled in. No matter how hard I pulled my hand continued to get sucked inside of the tree.

By the time the light was up to my wrist I began getting pulled in faster, and every time I tried to tug my arm from the tree it would just pull me in even faster.

I was forced to turn sideways when my elbow was pulled past the light, and I kept my head tilted away to try and prevent it from getting sucked in as well, but it was no use. The light reached my shoulder and my vision was slowly swallowed by the white light.

Once my vision was engulfed by the light it was like a switch had been flipped and everything around me was dark. The rest of my body was viciously yanked the rest of the way through, and I felt as if my entire being was on fire.

It was like my organs were being rearranged, and my bones were being broken and the reset into different places. It felt like my spine was being stretched, along with my nose and mouth. My eyes were burning, and my ears were being pulled further up my head.

Darkness started clouding the edge of my vision, and I welcomed it with open arms. The pain faded as the darkness overtook me, and the last thing I heard was a pain filled whine before everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

_OC's thoughts_

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The first thing I felt upon opening my eyes was an all encompassing pain surrounding my body. My sluggish thoughts wondered why I was feeling pain until all of my memories came rushing back, and I remembered the white light that sucked me into a tree, and then the excruciating pain.

My eyes shot open and I stumbled off of the ground. Expecting to get up onto two legs, I was suitably surprised when my momentum threw me backwards instead of onto my feet.

Rolling onto my side I shook my head and looked down at my legs in confusion, only…they weren't my legs. Where my human legs had once been were a pair of hind legs that looked like they belonged on a big cat.

It wasn't just my legs that had been turned. My eyes followed the short tan fur that covered my body and saw my arms weren't really arms, but another set of legs that should have been on a lion.

With my panic mounting I started to hyperventilate when a thump was heard directly behind me. Bolting onto my legs–er, paws– I twisted my body around, and ended up getting my four new legs twisted together.

My lack of balance on four legs instead of two had me falling flat on my face. I heard a small meow, and opened my eyes to look down a short tan snout where my nose used to be.

"What happened to me?!"

The question was supposed to be out loud, but instead of words all that escaped me were various growl sounds that only a large cat should be able to make.

 _Okay okay,_ I thought to myself, _panicking will get you nowhere. I just need to find out what's going on, and then I can get someone to help me._

Another thump, the same as before, sounded from behind me. I shot up from the grass, this time a little more carefully then last time, and I was able to stay standing on all fours.

Turning my head I slowly inched my body around and examined everything around me. All I could see we're the surrounding trees. I couldn't see the road that I had parked my car on.

 _Where am I? And what was that noise?_

Examining my new body the best I could I ever-so-slowly lowered my furry butt into the ground, so I was now in a sitting position.

 _Okay let's think here… I was driving when I saw that light, and when I stupidly decided to touch said light it sucked me inside of a tree. After I passed through the light I felt all of that pain. That must have been when I was turned into this big cat. Now I wake up to find I'm in another area all together._ If cats could sigh, that's what I'd be doing.

Twisting my head as far back as it could go I saw a strip of light brown going down my spine. I followed the line all the way to the tuft of matching light brown fur on the tip of my tail.

 _Oh, a tail_. The tail raised into the air and hit the ground with a familiar thump. _I have a tail,_ I thought faintly, _that's not natural. NONE OF THIS IS NATURAL!_

I rose my cat-like body off of the ground and tried frantically pacing. Tried being the key word. It took me a few tries to actually start pacing with four legs, but eventually I got it, and allowed myself to mentally panic.

 _I am a human being, not some kind of–of cat! What am I anyway, a lion? People don't just turn into lions, or any animal for that matter. People are people. I am a people! Well, a person. I want to be a person, I don't want to be a lion (as cool as it is)! I want to be a human–A HUMAN!_

An all encompassing heat suddenly engulfed my body. I felt my insides start rearranging themselves, but funnily enough it didn't hurt this time. Instead I only felt a small discomfort as I watched all of the fur disappear from my body. The paws were replaced by my hands and feet, and my shoulders were made broad as a humans should be.

Seeing my hands instead of large paws made me shudder with relief. I hugged my hands to my chest and pressed my forehead onto my knees, but when my eyes fully registered what I was wearing I jerked up.

My usual waitress uniform had been replaced by some sort of light beige leather vest with a red puffy shirt underneath. The vest continued to the top of what looked like light beige leather pants, but they didn't feel like the leather I was used to. The same material is what made up the vest, and the red laced-up boots that ended below my knee. Clasped around my shoulders was a red cloak.

Putting my hand against the ground I went to push myself up when I felt something small and furry. Wrapping my hand around it I pulled it in front of me. By the time I brought it before me I felt something tugging at the base of my spine. Following the tan furry thing I realized that it was attached to where my tailbone would be.

With my horror mounting I trailed my eyes from one end of the furry appendage all the way to the fluffy light brown tip.

I dropped the tail as if it burned me and scrambled onto my feet. It seems the transformation forgot a piece. I rubbed my hands over my face in a useless attempt to make everything around me magically disappear and I'll find myself back in my car.

But when I peeked out between my fingers I was still surrounded by the dark forest, and there was still a lion tail attached to my tailbone.

Dragging my hands up, I attempted to run my fingers through my hair, but they ran into something small and fuzzy sitting on the sides of my head.

Untangling my fingers from my hair I placed shaky fingers over the fuzzy objects and pinched them. A sharp pain rang through my head and I let go of the fuzzy ears.

It seems that after my mysterious transformation, into what I could only describe as a lion, I kept both the tail and the round fuzzy ears. After feeling for my regular human ears I concluded that they had shifted and stayed in the shape of lion ears.

 _I can't fucking believe it. I lose my job, get blue hair, and then get sucked into a tree that turns me into a lion. This day better be a dream or else I'm going to maul somebody._ Pulling a piece of my hair in front of my face I took in the fact that it was actually not blue anymore, but it went back to the natural light brown.

Whatever magical business was going on around here needed a hug, because that's probably the best thing that's happened to me all day.

Dropping the piece of hair I gazed at the trees around me and started walking in the direction I think I showed up from. Hopefully believing if I go that way I'll come across the road I stopped my car on. But in the corner of my mind there was a niggling feeling of doubt.

As I continued walking I groaned aloud as I remembered my date night with Janice. Every Thursday after work Janice and I would go for a night on the town, usually going to the local theatre to watch a movie. After working all day in a diner we usually aren't in the mood to go get dinner at one. Maybe go to Janice's house and order pizza along with ice cream for dessert.

 _She's probably worried out of her mind by now. How long have I been out anyway?_ Looking up through the branches of the trees I was struck dumb by what I saw.

Thousands–hundreds of thousands of starts were scattered across the sky. I mean sure I lived in a small town, and there were a lot of stars, but every inch of this sky was just covered with little dots. Even the moon seemed brighter. Enough to let its rays break through the cover of tree branches. _Where am I?_

A soft noise was suddenly heard a little ways in front of me, and my body immediately fell into a defensive crouch. My brows furrowed, and I sneered at the instinctive reaction my body had taken before I forced myself off of all fours. My knees were still bent enough so that I was hidden behind the foliage, but at least now I wasn't on my hands and knees.

Slowly creeping forward I barely realized that I was stalking on the balls of me feet before I came up to a small clearing where the noise had originated from. Pressing my back against the trunk of a tree I flinched as if waiting to get sucked into another white light. When that didn't happen I mentally berated myself before peeking around the trunk.

There was a small clearing housing a small pond that was lit up by rays of moonlight, and sitting right there next to that pond was a little boy. He had his knees tucked up against his chest with his head placed between his knees. I saw his body shuddering, and I wondered what was wrong, until I heard the same noise that had drawn me here.

He was sobbing.

My lion ears twitched towards the boy, and I felt a pang of irritation at the movement before pushing it away. Now was not the time to be worrying about my lion appendages. Of course they might freak out the boy, but I can cross that bridge when I get to it.

Slowly stepping out from around the tree I continued stalking forward. My steps were completely silent, and not once did the little boy look up.

When I was about halfway between the boy and the surrounding trees I stopped walking and put the entire bottom of my foot against the ground. Unsure of how I could come across less intimidating I decided it would be best if I sat criss-cross on the grass.

Once I was settled on the grass I looked at the boy and saw his movements had ceased. Apparently all of my rustling hadn't gone unheard.

"Are you alright?" I kept my voice quiet.

The little boys shoulders tensed even more, and I saw him move one of his legs underneath s body while the other knee was still pulled against his chest. I assumed this was some kind of strategy. Probably so he could get away faster if I turned out to be a danger (which I wasn't).

"Come now there's no need to be frightened."

"I'm not scared!" The little boy whirled around in anger. The look was completely ruined by the fact his eyes were red and puffy from all of his crying. Not to mention the anger melted away as soon as he saw my lion ears.

"You noticed the ears huh?" I brought my hand up and let one of the ears with my thumb, "I'm stuck with them, unfortunately."

"But–but that's impossible!" He was looking at me incredulously.

"I was just as surprised as you, believe me."

"No no! You're supposed to be dead!"

It was my turn to look at him incredulously, "I can assure you, I am very much alive." _At least I think so. With all the pain I've experienced tonight I'm definitely not dead, or dreaming._

"But–but that's not possible!" The boy burst, "Your kind was killed! None of you are supposed to be left!"

My eyebrows rose in offense, "Excuse me?"

"Well," the boy turned thoughtful, "except for King Ryan of course. He's the only one left."

"The only…what?" _And who was King Ryan?_

The boy sent me a confused look, as if I should know this already, "The only Skin-Shifter. At least he _was_ the only Skin-Shifter." He gave me a shrewd look.

"What's a Skin-Shifter?" _Is that what I am now?_

"What do you mean 'what's a Skin-Shifter?' I know they've been gone for years now, but everybody knows their story." The boy sounded absolutely scandalized that I didn't know what a Skin-Shifter was.

"Well you'll have to forgive me, but I've never heard of a Skin-Shifter before. You see I'm not from around here." That was the truth. Never before have I heard of a Skin-Shifter, and the boy only called me that because he saw my ears.

Whatever this place was it definitely wasn't my home town, or any other place I've ever heard of. Was there even a king by the name of Ryan anywhere in the world? Not my world.

That thought made me sick to my stomach. _No. There's no way I'm in some other world._ But there was a traitorous voice in the back of my mind, _That would be the only explanation though. Why else would that little boy call you a Skin-Shifter? Why else are you able to turn into a lion?_

"You'd have to be from pretty far away to have never heard of a Skin-Shifter." He looked at my ears, "What kind of Shifter are you anyway?"

I felt confused, "What do you mean by kind?"

He blinked slowly, "Wow. You really don't know anything."

I scoffed, "Oh, and I'm sure you know everything?"

He scratched the back of his neck a little sheepishly, "Not everything. Just the things I've read in books."

"Look kid–" "Brennen." "–what?" I gave him a weird look, but he sat there unfazed, "That's my name. Brennen."

"Alright, look Brennaen I don't know where I am or what this place is, but what I do know is that I am _lost_. I've never heard of a Skin-Shifter, and I don't know who King Ryan is."

"But that's not possible!"

I gave him a dry look, "Honey, a lot of shit has happened to me tonight. I'm pretty sure anything is possible."

"You don't understand, everybody in Eirrohïm knows who King Ryan is!"

"Eirrohïm?" _What even is that?_

Brennen was giving me a lost look, "You don't know what Eirrohïm is either?"

"I'm assuming it's wherever this place is." This conversation was really only serving to make me more confused, "Look kid I've had a long day, and tonight isn't any better. I need you to be frank with me and explain who King Ryan is, what a Skin-Shifter is, and where, or what, Eirrohïm is."

Thankfully this kid was old enough to recognize how tired and confused I was.

"Let's start with how old you are, and go from there."

"I'm ten years." The kid grew silent and looked at the ground in thought, "I guess it's best to start with Eirrohïm. I'm not sure how you don't know about Eirrohïm. It's a country–this country. It was found years ago by the first king, Eirroh.

"When King Eirroh began exploring this country he found a group of people were already living here." _Sounds like when we found America,_ "King Eirroh approached this group and found that they weren't like normal human beings. Instead they had the ears and tails of animals.

"After a time, King Eirroh found out that those people didn't have animal ears for show, but that they could actually turn into animals. Like you can." He gave me a small, but excited, smile, "You have the ears and tail of a lion, so you must turn into a lion."

"King Eirroh thought this was the most amazing thing he's ever discovered, and it must have been some sort of magic. He asked them what they were, and they called themselves the Skin-Shifters.

"Everyone of the Kings men thought the Shifters were extraordinary–except for one.

"King Eirroh's best friend, Maclin, thought these people were beasts, and should be treated as such. One night he pleaded his case to Eirroh, but he would have none of it. He warned his friend that he never wanted to hear anything so vile ever again.

"Maclin grew angry at Eirroh. He defied King Eirroh's wishes for the Shifters to be treated equally, and was seen whipping one of them by one of Eirroh's guards.

"King Eirroh was so ashamed of Maclin's actions. He pleaded with the Skin-Shifters to forgive his friends actions, but they would have none of it. They wanted vengeance, and rightly so!" Brennen grew rather passionate, and I assumed he was a big fan of Skin-Shifters.

"King Eirroh was reluctant to punish Maclin, for he thought they were the best of friends. Unfortunately Eirroh was forced to take some sort of action, or else he would lose the small friendship that had been brewing between his people and the Skin-Shifters. Without much choice he had Maclin locked away for the rest of his life.

"After Maclin was locked away the Skin-Shifters acted much friendlier towards the newcomers. They worked together with King Eirroh's men to build better villages, and when they found out Eirroh was a King, they had to ask what that was! Can you believe it!" His eyes were shining in excitement as he looked at me, "They never had a King before!"

I gave him a fake smile of amusement, "It's quite unbelievable." _Liar. The only royalty I've ever heard of was Queen Elizabeth._

"When they found out that a King was someone with a very high position, they compared him to a village chief," Brennan scoffed at that. "A King is much higher than a chief, and when Eirroh and his men told the Shifters that they immediately started bowing and offering him gifts.

"The only thing he requested from them was for their help. They willingly did what he asked, and soon they finished building Eirroh's castle. To thank the Shifters for their hard work, King Eirroh offered them a place in the castle, but most of the Shifters declined because their animal belonged outside, but there were those who accepted. Like the dogs, and the small cats, even a few who could turn into horses worked the royal stables."

"How come you know all of this stuff?" No ten year old I ever came across would be able to give me such a detailed history.

Brennen looked away, and refused to meet my eyes, "My family were big supporters of Skin-Shifters. Especially since King Ryan gained the throne."

"Were?" I kept my voice soft.

A few sniffles sounded through the small clearing,many when Brennen spoke his voice was thick with emotion, "They were killed."

I crawled closer and hesitantly reached out my hand when it brushed his shoulder he turned and latched onto my torso, "Why were they killed?"

A choked laugh escaped him, "You really don't know anything do you?"

"No I don't. Now tell me why."

"There was a hidden group of people who believe in what Maclin had been trying to say. That Skin-Shifters should be treated like the beasts they are.

"After years after King Eirroh died that group of people rose up and attacked the Skin-Shifters, believing that when people saw them taking action they would join see reason.

"Unfortunately–or fortunately–the group had underestimated the Shifters strength, and they lost the battle. Most fled for their lives.

"For years there were various attempts against the Skin-Shifters lives, but after time went on the attempts slowly went away, and people foolishly began believing the group had disbanded or were completely gone.

"That opinion was soon changed when the people woke up to find the Skin-Shifters dead or dying. Nobody knows what had caused the Skin-Shifters deaths, but they do know it was a very sad day."

I felt horrified, _All of those people, an entire race of human beings were murdered._ "Wait. I thought you said King Ryan was a Shifter."

"Mhm," Brennen nodded his head, "he's the only one who survived. It's because of him that everybody believes it was something in the food and water."

"Why would they think…?"

"Because the royal family gets their food from a different place then the rest of the villages. When it was rumored that he had survived, the King and Queen were found dead the next day, while a guard had saved Prince Ryan's life. That guard took Ryan in while he was still just a child and raised him into the King he is today."

"Wait so then this King Ryan is the last Shifter?"

"I thought so," he pulled away from me and gave me a look of pure joy, "but now I've met you! Everyone, even King Ryan, had thought him to be the last of the Shifters, but we were wrong! And on top of that you're a girl!"

"Oh no I–wait a minute what does being a girl have to do with anything?" I narrowed my eyes at him. _I better not have to start a feminist movement in this country._

"From what I've read girl Shifters were highly valued among the other Shifters. Apparently Shifters had boys more often then girls, so when a girl was born they were looked upon rather highly."

 _You know I was born a human being, I would have been perfectly happy staying that way._ "You didn't really answer why your family had been killed."

"No," he gave a loud sniffle before wiping his nose, "I guess I didn't. My village was always a big supporter of King Ryan, or regarding Shifters in general. Word must have reached the wrong ears because my village was attacked." His voice broke and I rubbed soothing circles on his back. "They pillaged our houses before lighting them on fire, and when we ran out of our houses we were killed.

"They–they missed me, and so I just ran as fast as I could until I ended up here." He gave another sob, "I left them! My entire village, my family! I abandoned them to their deaths!"

I pulled Brennen closer and allowed him to use my sleeve as a tissue. "Hush now, you don't know that they were all killed. Your friends, your parents, they could still be alive. You just have to believe it."

Brennen wept well into the night, and by the time we had both fallen asleep the sun was turning the sky a light pink.


	3. Chapter 3

_OC's thoughts_

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The afternoon sun was beating down on me by the time I woke up. At first I thought the sun was hitting me directly in the face from my window, but when I opened my eyes to see clear blue sky's above and a bed of grass below, I felt a twinge of disappointment.

I heard something breathing next to me, and when I rolled over to look I found a boy sitting next to me. _His name's Brennen right?_

He sent me a bright smile, "You're awake! I thoughts you'd be sleeping forever."

 _Too cheerful,_ "I'm a grown woman who needs her beauty sleep."

Brennen never lost his happy smile, "When I woke up I thought last night had been a dream, but then I turned around and poof! Your were sleeping right next to me! Pure proof that everything that happened last night actually…happened."

Brennen grew subdued by the end of his tirade, "What's wrong Brennen?"

He looked up at me with watery green eyes and sniffled, "If everything last night really happened, then my village really was attacked, and my family is…is…"

When he was unable to finish the sentence I scooted closer to him and gathered him into my arms, allowing him to cry into my shoulder, "I'm sorry for your loss Brennen, but you must forgive me since I'm no good at this…comforting stuff. All I can say is they're in a better place now."

"Bu–But why'd they have to go?!" Brennen wailed.

"Rarely is it your choice on whether or not it's your time. I do not think they would leave you behind like this Brennen. But if you'd like to think of it this way," I pushed him away and looked him in the eyes as I held his shoulders, "had last night not happened, we never would have met. I would still be wandering these woods wondering where the hell I was. It's good to believe that everything happens for a reason, because otherwise we may be lost."

Brennen sat in front of me with his eyes unseeing. He seemed to be processing my words which thankfully seemed to have done the trick since he began nodding, and rubbing the residual tears from his eyes. "Thanks for making me feel better, um…?"

 _Idiot_ , I could have hit myself over the head, he told me his name, _but I didn't tell him mine?_ "It's Aleah."

Another smile was on his face, and I thought that suited him much better than tears, "That's a pretty name."

I nodded, "Thanks. My mother thought so too." Stretching my arms above my head I waited to see if they would pop, and when they did I stood up from the ground and cracked my back. "You seem to know a lot about Skin-Shifters," I looked at Brennen expectantly, "can you tell me anything else I should know about my own kind?" _Wow, I just referred to myself as a kind._

"Oh! Uh no," he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Everything I know is from books or stories my parents told me."

I shrugged, "It's more than what I know."

"I think the only person who could tell you would be the King."

I looked at Brennen like he was crazy, "You want me to talk to the King? _The King?"_ I wasn't very well versed when it came to royalty, but I'm pretty sure you can't just walk up to one like "Hey how's it goin?".

Brennen nodded, "If anyone can get to the King it'd be you."

"Why?"

He gave me a deadpan look, "You're the last female Shifter in all of Eirrohïm. Possibly the whole world. I doubt he would turn you away."

I heaved an agitated sigh, "Fine. Where's the King?"

"In his castle," Brennen sent me a cheeky smile.

Now it was my turn to send him a deadpan look, "Where's the castle." It wasn't a question.

Brennen pointed in the direction I just came from, "like, six hundred and fifty leagues from here."

 _Geez they still use leagues here? Whatever. There's three miles in a league so…_ I did the math in my head and blanched at the distance, "That's almost two thousand miles!"

"I guess," Brennen shrugged as if this was nothing new to him. Which it probably wasn't. I'm sure he's travelled fairly far in his short years.

"How long will it take us to get to the castle then?"

"About a month."

"A month." _Oh my god do we have to walk all the way there?_ "With a car?" All that question got me was a confused look. _Yeah, we're walking._

"If we're going to be walking the whole way there," I started rubbing my temples to help me both think and keep away a migraine, "what are we going to do about food? Or water?"

"There are plenty of streams between here and Machlaheim that we can get water from, and you can just hunt deer in as a lion."

There were two things wrong with that sentence. The first was the fact that I didn't know if I could turn back into a lion, or if I wanted too, and the second, "What's Machlaheim?"

Brennen gave me a searching look, "That's what the kingdom is called. Machlaheim. You didn't know that?"

"I…guess not." _This place has some really weird names_. "So, off to Machlaheim?"

"Yup," Brennen popped the 'p', "but first we'll be stopping at Fasareed. We could buy some water skins there."

 _I'm going to assume this Fasareed is a town of some sort,_ "And what are we going to buy it with? I have no money." All of my money had been lost on my journey here, and even then I doubted any if it would have been acceptable.

"I have some on me. Pa and I were about to head off to Fasareed before my village was attacked," Brennen lost his cheerful demeanor at the thought of his deceased family, "Ma needed new threads."

"Hey," I hooked a finger under his chin and tilted his head up, "they're in a better place now, remember? Now your ma's got all the threads she wants." I moved my fingers to each corner of his mouth, "Let's turn that frown upside down!"

Brennen giggled, and swatted my hands away from his face, "C'mon! The longer we linger here the longer it'll take to get to Machlaheim!" With that Brennen ran hightailed it towards the trees.

"Hey wait a second!" I ran after him and did my best to keep him in sight, but with the amount of trees it wasn't long before I lost him. "This is why I never wanted kids."

"Brennen!" I shouted his name, hoping that would catch his attention and know that I wasn't in the mood to play hide and seek, but he either didn't hear me or ignored me. "Damn kids," I swatted a low hanging branch out if my face, "always running away from the adults. How am I supposed to track him down? Wait," I immediately stopped walking, "track."

 _Lions can track things right?_ The thought crossed my mind very briefly before I quickly shoved it away. _I am NOT a lion_. I continued walking forward, but my traitorous thoughts came back. _It will be easier to find him if I was a lion._ But then, _I don't need him_. Of course, _He's the one who knows where he's going._

That pretty much won the argument, so I stopped walking and tried to think about how I could change back into a lion. The first time had been excruciating and completely against my will, but maybe if I do it again it won't be as bad.

 _I was able to turn back into a human, so I should be able to turn into a lion._

Taking a deep breath I tried picturing a lion in my mind. I already had the ears and tail, but now I needed four legs, a snout, and tan fur to cover my whole body. Nothing really happened at first so I knew I had to be doing something wrong.

 _Come on body I need you to change into a lion. I know you can do it cause I've seen it. Nearly gave me a heart attack. The one time I actually need to be a lion I won't change? I need to be a lion! Brennen has run off, and is probably stuck in a tree or something._ The last thought hit me harder than I thought. I've grown rather attached to the ten year old boy in the short amount of time I've known him.

 _Oh god now I really need to change. Please, please,_ please _! I need to shift!_

Once the word shift crossed my mind I could feel a heavy tingling sensation take over my entire body. It wasn't a gradual feeling either. One second it wasn't there, the next it was.

There was a pulling sensation on the tips of my fingers, and when I looked at them I was just in time to see my nails lengthen into claws. That change was soon followed by my hands turning into fur covered paws. My arms then changed into those of a lions at the same time my legs turned into hind legs found in animals.

It was another five minutes until the tingling sensation faded away, and by that time I was standing on all fours in the body of a lion.

 _That definitely wasn't painful._ Lifting my nose into the air I gave an experimental sniff, and when I smelled something other than trees and grass I inhaled deeper. _Let's see how well this tracking stuff goes_ , and with that I pounced forward in pursuit of my missing friend.


	4. Chapter 4

Finding Brennen as a lion proved to be much easier than trying to find him as a human. The only problem to show itself happened after I found him. When he saw me prowling towards him he let out a high-pitched scream before bolting in the opposite direction. I stared after him in surprise until my thoughts kicked in and I raced after him.

The chase was brief, and when I finally pinned him down he had tears streaming down his cheeks. His reaction was confusing. I tried brushing my nose against his cheeks but it caused him to scream louder. I only understood what the problem was when I heard him pleading "don't eat me".

It took a few moments, but I was able to change back into my human self relatively quickly. The fact that I was getting used to changing into a lion was worrying, but there really wasn't much I could do about it.

"Brennen," I kept my voice calm as I pressed my hands to his cheeks, "open your eyes."

Hearing my voice had his forest green eyes snapping open in surprise, "Aleah?" When he registered my worried face he relaxed against the ground, "You were the lion."

My shoulders slumped with a relieved sigh, "Yeah."

I crawled off of him and sat back on my knees, uncomfortably moving my tail from beneath me. Brennen sat in front of me with his legs crossed. He wore a sheepish expression, "I didn't know it was you."

I chuckled lightly, "That's alright. How were you to know?"

Brennen gave me an odd look, "Lions live in the eastern region of Eirrohïm. The only lions that ever came by the kingdom were the Shifters. Even then it was only for trade reasons." He suddenly became excited, "Are you from the east? Is your family there? Are they Skin-Shifters too?"

Climbing onto my feet I looked down at Brennen sadly, "Afraid not, little man. I'm just a lost traveller trying to find my way home." The information solidified that I was indeed (almost) the last Skin-Shifter. It had Brennen's face falling into a frown.

I helped him up from the ground and we quietly made our way to the next town. Fasareed is what Brennen called it. "So how far is this town?"

As it turns out our one day of travel stretched out into three. The first day was when I first tried hunting. I had figured out how to find things through smell when I went looking for Brennen, but that was all I could do. This made it a struggle to find food because Brennen figured I could just up and hunt down a deer.

I was all for it in the beginning, since I was hungry too. It took two hours of searching in my lion skin before Brennen finally asked if I knew what I was doing. That's when I confessed that I knew absolutely nothing about being a Skin-Shifter. Brennen was understandably surprised to hear this and asked why.

I saw no problem with telling him that I came from a world where there was no such thing as Skin-Shifters, and as a ten year old boy he easily accepted it. What shocked him most was when he heard that the Kings and Queens in my world weren't quite as powerful as the ones here. Instead we had presidents. The idea fascinated him, and I did my best to explain what a president was.

After that discussion was over I tried my luck at tracking down a deer. The tracking itself took about half the day, and the second I found one some sort of base instinct had me crouching lower and prowling forward in complete silence.

I jumped from the bushes and managed to land on its back. The deer struggled of course, and since I was new at the whole hunting-as-a-lion thing I didn't think to go for its neck. That led to a ten minute struggle with me trying to hold onto its butt while it bucked around wildly. Even over the commotion I could hear Brennen's laughter.

Thankfully my embarrassment was rewarded with a scratched up deer.

The second day of hunting went by much easier. We only encountered a problem when Brennen took a look around and pronounced that we were going the wrong way.

On the third day the town finally came into sight, and at that point we decided to take a lunch break. We ate some left over deer meat from breakfast and went to the bathroom.

Two things I learned about traveling was that there was no bathroom you could stop and use. You are at the complete mercy of Mother Nature. On top of that you needed to know how to make a fire to cook your meals over. Thankfully for me Brennen's father had taught him the basics of traveling. It was off-putting that I had to learn from a ten year old boy, but he was all I had in this world.

"Come on!" Brennen was grinning wildly as he tugged me up from the ground, "Everybody will be so excited to see you!"

I allowed him to pull me up with a confused smile, "Why would they be excited to see me?"

"Because," he stressed, "you're a Skin-Shifter. King Ryan has been the only one for nearly thirty years. Now that you're here you can give everybody hope for the Shifters return."

I choked on air, "Give everybody hope?"

"Mhm!" Brennen didn't notice my sudden apprehension.

Being the center of attention was always uncomfortable for me. It made me very self-conscious, thinking people were judging me for every single action. Now I was about to be made center of attention for an entire town.

"Brennen I don't think–"

The ten year old cut me off, "Come on, Aleah! We're almost there!"

We were so close to the town now that some people looked in our direction at the sound of Brennen's voice. He waved his free hand wildly, and a few of the strangers lifted their own in greeting.

"Look everybody!" The ground changed into cobblestone greets as we passed the edge of the town, "A Shifter! I found a Skin-Shifter!"

My heart froze in my chest as more an more people we attracted by Brennen's yells. I yanked my hand away from Brennen's, and he gave me a weird look. The look went unnoticed because I was too busy glancing around at the numbers of people standing around us.

Murmurs broke out among the mass of people. I could feel their eyes staring holes into my head, and I tightened my cloak around me to hide me tail.

"Aleah," I looked down to see Brennen's forest green eyes staring deep into my own lighter green, "why are you hiding your tail?"

I bit my lip apprehensively, "Are you sure about this?" My voice was quiet.

Brennen smiled widely, "Of course!"

His cheerful emotions are the only reason I reached up to my neck and unclasped my red cloak. It fell from my shoulders and I bunched it up in my hands to hug to my chest. Removing my cloak revealed my long, tan tail. The end was flicking about because of my nerves.

The sight of my tail made Brennen's claim of me being a Shifter even more solid. I heard a few gasps come from the surrounding people, and their murmurs grew exponentially. They were no longer murmurs, and more like people trying to talk over one another.

My ears were much more sensitive now that they were those of a lion. It meant the amount of noise was hurting my eardrums much more than it usually would.

The sensitivity my ears now had also picked up on another voice, "Excuse me?"

I looked around for the owner of the small voice, and my eyes fell on a small little girl hugging a doll to her chest. Her baby blue eyes were staring up at me in wonder, "What are you?"

Her innocence made me smile, "I'm a Skin-Shifter," there were more gasps, "do you know what that is?" The little girl shook her head. "Well," I crouched down to her height, "it means that I can turn into an animal."

She gasped, "An animal?"

I nodded, "Yup."

"Any animal you want?"

"Only one." This made the little girl frown, but when I pulled my tail into sight her eyes brightened, "I can turn into a lion."

"A lion?" The girl scrunched her face in thought, "Is that the big kitty in the east?"

"Yes! Exactly." Being told she was correct had the girl smiling toothily.

"Can I see? Pleeeeeeease?"

I chuckled lightly, "I don't see why not." Giving myself more room I crouched on my hands and knees before feeling my body shift into the lanky form of a lion.

After I changed I saw the little girl gasp, but I heard a few screams that reminded me of everyone that was standing around us. Talking to the girl made me forget they were there.

I was able to catch a few of the things being said. "Oh my…!" "It's true!" "I never thought…" "How is this possible?" "Amazing!" "Is she dangerous?"

My self-conscious instincts kicked in, and I started crouching lower to the ground when I felt a small hand on my head. It made me jerk in surprise but the hand still stayed. It even stated scratching me behind the ear. The sensation made me purr in delight. I'd never made the sound before.

"You're so pretty!"

I huffed at the little girls exclamation. The last several days were the most surreal days I've ever experience, and oddly enough I was slowly starting to enjoy all of it.


End file.
